


Similar Words

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 18:00:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15954596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Xander wanders off by himself, wounded by some of the abuse heaped on him by his father. A surprise source of sympathy waits for him in the darkness outside his house.





	Similar Words

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during Season 3 after Angel has returned. It's based on the premise there's more lurking in the canon between Angel and Xander than is often shown, the suggestions dropped during the first and second seasons (Xander knowing where Angel lived, the two of them occasionally having a private conversation). It's inspired by what we've seen of Xander...and Liam's family lives and how much less humanity Angelus had than Spike or Dru. This is Angel's theory why. 
> 
> I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but sometimes it owns me. :)=

It had been a while since Angel spoke to Xander Harris by himself. 

Not since he’d lost his soul. Not since their exchange at the hospital. 

Not that Xander missed him. Who’d want someone around who had a knack for appearing whenever you felt vulnerable, scared…or had just had a fight with your father, which never failed to reduce you to something smaller than nerd-sized. Quite a feat. 

Of course that’s when Deadboy chose to appear. 

“What’s up?” Angel detached himself from the shadows a short distance from Xander’s house. 

“Oh, just my father indulging in his favorite words.” Xander Harris tried to smile, tried to keep his voice from trembling. “He saves them especially for me, you know. Sissy, mama’s boy, pansy-“

“-disgrace, coward, less than a man.” Angel joined in, his voice eerily in synch with Xander’s. 

The mortal stopped and stared at the vampire. “All right, that wasn’t just uncanny. For someone with a soul, you’re improving your skills at torture to a whole new level of subtlety.” Xander didn’t bother to keep the bite out of his voice. 

He never did with Angel. He told himself it was hate, that of all the undead, he especially disliked this one. 

Maybe if he kept at it, Xander Harris would eventually believe it.

“Sorry.” Angel actually did sound sorry. “Your father and mine liked a lot of the same words.” The vampire met the mortal boy’s eyes, showing a hint of another mortal boy, wounded and vulnerable. “Mine saved the same ones especially for me, too.”

“The badass vampire was once a worthless son?” Xander tried to offer up a deprecating smile, but sympathy tingled within, killing it on his lips. “Who’d have thought?”

“Some of the worst monsters were once unloved children.” Angel didn’t bother to smile back. “I often wonder if this wasn’t why I have so much less humanity soulless than Spike or Dru.” The vampire kept his intense, dark gaze fixed on Xander. “No matter what they became, their parents loved them. No matter what they became, the memory of that love never left.”

“So what?” Xander managed to force his mouth into something like a smile, even though he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Angel’s. “If I get bitten like Jesse was and turned into a vampire, I’ll…what? Be as bad as you…were?”

“Be careful, Xander.” Angel backed up a step before turning to disappear into the darkness. His voice lingered in the air. “Be very careful.”

Xander Harris shivered. “Why don’t you ever have good news, Deadboy?” At the same time, a dark part of him was consoled by the fact that someone, somewhere thought he needed to take care. That he might amount to something, even if it was an evil something. 

Xander shivered again. Maybe he did need to care. Or figure something out, a comeback to all the abuse his dad showered on him. 

Easier said than done. It had taken Angel a century to think of something. Xander didn’t have that long. 

Time to start thinking.


End file.
